Food Not Bombs
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The East Bay Food Not Bombs chapter started in 1991. FNB recovers healthy, nutritious, vegetarian food that would have been otherwise discarded, to cook food for people in immediate need. By giving away free, vegetarian food in public places Food Not Bombs brings the invisible hungry and poor into the public's eye, forcing passers-by to examine, at least for a moment, their own complicity and involvement in the global economic system that oppresses every one of us.
Food Not Bombs is protest, not charity.
While FNB is a loosely-knit group of (hundreds of!) collectives, each Food Not Bombs group shares some basic unifying principles:
Nonviolence Our society is dominated by violence - economic, political, environmental, and psychological. The authority and power of the government is based solely on the threat and use of violence at home and abroad. Food Not Bombs is committed to a vision of society that is motivated by love and sharing, not violence and greed.
Consensus Decision Making Rather then relying on a system of "winner takes all", Food Not Bombs believes that every member of the group should have the opportunity to participate in shaping all of the group's decisions. The consensus process insures that the will of the majority does not dismiss the values and contributions of everyone else. Consensus process forces us to resolve conflicts through negotiation and compromise rather than overruling and censoring.
Vegetarianism Food Not Bombs serves almost exclusively vegan food (no meat, dairy or other animal products), and attempts to ensure that most of its food is organic. Keith McHenry, co-founder of Food Not Bombs explains: “For one, we want to show our stance of nonviolence against animals, that nonviolence means more than not fighting wars. The other reason is ecological — vegetarian food, and vegan food in particular, uses much fewer resources in terms of water, land and so on.”
Our cooking locations are found at http://ebfnb.org/, and our meetings are the first Wednesday of every month, at 7:30, at TheLongHaul.
More sites for free meals for the hungry in and around Berkeley include:
Breakfast
- Dorothy Day House, Trinity United Methodist Church: 2362 Bancroft at Dana, Mon - Sat at 8am Night on the Streets: People's Park, Dwight above Telegraph, Sunday at 7:30am
Lunch
Food not Bombs: People's Park (Dwight above Telegraph) Vegetarian, Mon - Fri, approx. 3pm McGee Avenue Baptist Church: 1640 Stuart at McGee, Mon, Wed, Fri at noon St. Paul AME Church: 2024 Ashby at Adeline, Tues at 11:30am South Berkeley Community Church: 1802 Fairview at Ellis, Thurs at noon Church by the side of the Road: 2108 Russel St. at Shattuck, Second Sunday of the Month at noon
Dinner
- Berkeley Food and Housing Project: Trinity United Methodist Church, 2362 Bancroft at Dana Mon, Tue, Wed at 4:15pm, Thurs, Fri at 3:30pm United Methodist Church: 63rd and Shattuck, Monday at 4pm St. Mary Magdalen Church: 2005 Berryman @ Henry, 1st/ 4th Sunday of the month @ 3pm All Soul's Episcopal Church: 2220 Cedar at Spruce, second Sunday of the month at 4pm
For updates and more free meal locations: contact the Catholic Worker @ 510 684-1892/ noscw@sbcglobal.net
If you are in need of free Health Care contact the Berkeley Free Clinic:
Below is a list of services provided by the Berkeley Free Clinic. Please, do not let yourself suffer or go untreated when an option is only as far away as 2339 Durant Ave. Consider these options and do what is best for you.
Information Resource Collective (IRC)
(510) 548-2570 ext. 6400
The Information and Referral Collective (IRC) provides information in areas such as addiction programs, medical needs, mental health resources, shelters, foodstuffs and meals, legal services, HIV and STD programs, and much more. To obtain information about health and social services in the community, or to have questions about the services of the Berkeley Free Clinic, please call the IRC!
We answer phones Sun. 4pm - 7pm, Mon. through Fri. 3pm - 9pm, and Sat. 8am – 5pm
Peer Counseling Services
(510) 548-2744
This free, confidential service is provided by lay volunteers trained in active listening skills, and as such is NOT an appropriate resource if you want to get your prescription renewed: this is the basic, "talking therapy" approach. Ongoing scheduled individual counseling may be set up through drop-ins. Please call the Peer Counseling Collective for more information.
On Mon., Tue., Wed., and Thur. evenings, registration is accepted at 6:45 PM for the drop-in service.
General Medical Services
(510) 548-4811 or (800) 6-CLINIC
The Berkeley Free Clinic is open for general medical services in the evenings Mon. - Fri. We will be offering only TB services on Tues evenings, while general medical services will be provided on all other weeknights. Please call at 5:45 PM to arrange a same-evening appointment.
HOW TO GET HIV SERVICES AT THE BERKELEY FREE CLINIC
(510) 644-0425
The HIV Prevention Services Collective of the Berkeley Free Clinic offers anonymous HIV antibody testing, with results available the following weekend. This free service is offered on a drop-in basis only for all clients on Sun evening.
Sign-in starts as early as 4:00 p.m., but we don’t start seeing clients until 4:30. Doors remain open until 7:00, which means that if you sign-in for services by 7 p.m., we will test you that evening.
On Sat, we have drop-in testing and results (the following week) for women only 12 noon - 2 p.m. (Men are welcome to come as support for their partners/friends, but they cannot get an HIV test on Saturday).
Because the tests are anonymous, you must hold on to your printed test number when you return for the results. Results are available the following week and will be held for 8 weeks after the test. There is drop-in results service for women and men on Sat. 4 - 5 p.m. or Sun. 4 - 7 p.m.